Tuesday, February 27, 2018

When you have more than one meniscus, it is called menisci.
The meniscus is like the rubber padding on your tibia where your fibula touches so it does not hit the other bone.

The two menisci in the knee are the medial and lateral meniscus.
Medial means closer to the middle of the body, and lateral means further from the middle of the body.
So the medial meniscus is on the inside part of your leg, and the lateral meniscus is on the outside part of your leg.
(from: wikipedia - medial meniscus)

The coat of arms shows the four elements that were important to the Mayan people, Day, Night, Earth and Wind.
The day is the sun at the top, the night is the star on the middle right, the earth is the snail on the middle left in the red, and the wind is the bottom.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Another type of cephalopod is the Coconut Octopus, also known as the veined octopus or amphioctopus marginatus.

This type of octopus lives mostly on the bottom of the water, and walks along in the sand.
It gets the name of coconut octopus, because it has been seen carrying empty coconut shells while it walks, and then when it wants to hide it climbs into the shell and closes it up.
Sometimes it will carry shells instead of coconuts and hide out in them, either hiding from predators or hiding so they can attack their prey.

Scientists also think that when it walks it looks like a coconut shell bouncing along the ocean floor.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

There are four main ligaments that connect the femur bone in the thigh, to the tibia and fibula bones of the lower leg.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) connects the back of the femur to the front of the tiba. It helps keep the knee from twisting.
The Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) connects the front of the femur to the back of the tibia.
The Medial Cruciate Ligament (MCL) connects the inside of the femur to the inside of the tibia.
The Lateral Cruciate Ligament (LCL) connects the outside of the femur to the fibula.

There is a large hill with a rock formation on top that is called the Cerro de la Bufa.
It was an important place in many battles, and some important churches and other places have been built around it.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Another example of art in Asia that has some Greek style is the Bimaran Casket, made around 50 AD in Afghanistan.

This is a golden container that has pictures of Buddha on the outside.
Buddha was a very important and wise person in Eastern Asia.
The pictures of Buddha on this container show him dressed and standing in a way that is a lot like Greek sculptures, so people think this was either done by Greek people who came through Afghanistan, or Greeks helped teach other people in the area how to do sculptures.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Squids are a lot like the cuttlefish, as they have eight short arms used for swimming and two tentacles used for grabbing their prey.
They also have a bone inside their body, kind of like the cuttlebone, but it is called the gladius.

They have a large part of their head called a mantle, with fins on the side.
Above the mantle is a tail.
Below the mantle they have the funnel where they breathe, and their eye.
At the bottom is their arms, tentacles and mouth.

The coat of arms shows a tree with two wolves around it.
These pictures came from the places in Spain where people came from before they moved to Mexico.
The tree is a special tree that lived for over 400 years in Biscay Spain. People would hold special meetings at the tree, like making promises to fight for freedom.
The wolves are from an old story that said before a famous battle there were two wolves that came along, and that would mean they would win the battle.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

A simple way to think of a seismometer is like a weight hanging from a string.
When there is an earthquake, the weight will bounce up and down, and might also sway from side to side.

Most seismometers are electric now, like some of them that use magnets to hold a thing floating in the air, and when the thing gets moved around by the earthquake they measure how much it moves, and whether it moves forward, backward, side to side or up and down.

Older measuring tools were sometimes called seismographs or seismoscopes.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Cuttlefish have eight arms like an octopus, but they also have two tentacles that have sharp edges like teeth they use to hook onto their prey, or sting with venom.

They have very different eyes that are in a W shape, that lets them see in front and behind at the same time.
Cuttlefish have green and blue blood instead of red, and they have three hearts!

There is a bone in the middle of the cuttlefish's body called the cuttlebone that is made of aragonite.
This is like a hollow crystaline type of bone that they use to push air or liquid into, so they can float or sink.
Just like some other cephalopods, cuttlefish have ink they can squirt out when they are scared.
This ink was so dark that it was used for painting or in food, and the science name of Cuttle fish is "Sepiida" which is where we get the color name "sepia" from.

Cuttlefish are also sometimes called chameleons of the sea, because they can change their color to look darker, lighter or even change color to disguise themselves.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Another famous sculpture from ancient India is the Pataliputra Capital.

It is over 4 feet long, and about 3 feet tall, and it was made over 2,000 years ago.
Even though it was made in India, it looks like a Classical Greek sculpture, so people think that the it was either given as a gift, or that the Greek people taught some other people in the area how to do sculptures the same way they did.
(from: wikipedia - pataliputra capital)